Sketch your dream

Really simple yet touching art pieces now hang on walls. They each carry messages of ambition, self-drive and hunger for better. One catches the eyes, nothing fancy, just ghostly paintings with egg-like eyes wondering around in the dark. Though gripping, it is the words engraved on the work that drive the message further home. "No more fear," the artist writes. "You can do it." No doubt, the affirmative art exhibition, as it is simply called, screams of honor. A noble cause!

This should explain why the exhibition meant to end last Friday got extended into the next week. Currently going on at the Makerere University art gallery, the event, also a workshop for aspiring artists has since seen amateur artists dare to sketch.

Asked to explore more on the ‘ghostly piece', Khalid Njowa, the day's facilitator said it was from a youngster struggling through life. "It simple; set a goal, paint it and let the painting be a reminder of that goal." He says that most of the paintings are from youngsters who are struggling to make ends meet.

This would then explain the decision to name the whole project, ‘Affirmative Art'. And yes, Eirik Trondsen, the brains behind this project would later confirm this. "I want everybody to draw their dream future, to define it, bring it closer and make it more real," Trondsen said. "The power of having a clear idea of what we want, a picture of our dream future, should not be underestimated!"

He then goes way back to 2012, the year that birthed this idea, which many have called therapeutic as art could get. "In 2012 we realized art could be a powerful tool for identifying goals and visions in life," he says. He insists that if one visually defines their purpose in life, then the art, the writing should bring said purpose closer.  "Affirmative Art could be a powerful tool for development, as art is a universal language, which does not require literacy. Also, it is cheap and available to all," he explains.